Question About Proofs

I am getting close to my goal of one of every Canadian stamp in mint. 34 more to go. Unfortunately, these last ones are pretty expensive so I have been thinking about proofs, especially for the Province of Canada ones. However, I have never seen a proof in person so I don't know much about them. How similar are they to regular stamps? If I put one in my hingeless album, will it look funny? Are they the same size as regular stamps?

Probably silly questions for many of you but don't worry, I have many more silly questions coming up.

I just had a nice post explaining everything but something happened and the site said some request has been deleted or some-such crap..grrr- Anyhow, I'll post a pic of some of my proofs and you can judge for your self. Besides having no perforations the thicknesses are different also. Proofs on card are well, on a card like stock paper and much thicker than regular issues and proofs on India are thinner.

All of these are on card except the 7¢ Edwin Stanton on the far right.



I hope this helps you a little bit.

Thanks. Are they the same size as the actual stamp? Just thought of another dumb question. If they are proofs, I assume they were printed before the actual print run of the real stamp to see who they look. Wouldn't they print them bigger in order to see the detail better?

Those sure do look nice though. Bright colours and sharp. Are proofs generally better looking than the actual stamp?

Yes. Basically it's just how much space the cutter left when trimming it from the sheet but it's exactly the same in every other respect with the only exception being the thickness.

some Canadian proof also bear the overprint "specimen" (see my avatar for a sample

were proofs something common back in the day? Are they made today?

Were they legal tender and actually used on postage?

How did they get in the hands of the public?

Good questions. As well, why are they usually much cheaper than the original stamp? Are there more of them around or is the demand lower?

Oh, and Gilles, do they exist with and without SPECIMEN stamped on them? What I mean is, can you find the same stamp on proof with and without the overprint?

Beullar ?? Anyone? Tom, we are the Davo outcasts..lol

Proofs are a must for those that collect an issue in detail especially with regards to printing. There are die proofs and plate proofs. A die proof usually has one subject (stamp) impression centered on a large card while a plate proof has more than one subject (stamp) impression on it (multiple) like a stamp sheet does, but many of these plate proofs have been cut apart from each other as singles to look like individual stamps. For some older stamps, there can exist more preserved plate proofs than there are stamps left existing around. Thus, some older classic stamps may be easier and cost less to get as plate proofs.

"Wouldn't they print them bigger in order to see the detail better?"

We are so used to changing the size of things on our computer that this may not be obvious, but they were printed from plates which have a fixed size, so the prints can't be made larger or small without making larger or smaller plates.

"Are they made today?"

"How did they get in the hands of the public?"

Sometimes they were given as political favors, sometimes they "fell" into the hands of employees of the printer or the postal service.

"As well, why are they usually much cheaper than the original stamp? Are there more of them around or is the demand lower?"

In general, demand is lower, but as someone else explained, imn the case of rare statmps there may actually be more proofs than regular stamps.
They still make proofs just to make sure the result is what they intednded.